My Shiner

If you ever thought that you were embarrassed by something your parent did, try being embarrassed about something you did that your parent did as well.
My mother, when she was in high school, went to a drum major camp. Those of you who don't know what a drum major is; if you have ever seen a marching band, it is the person who is waving their arms around in front of the band. Anyway, she was at camp and was doing some kind of move with her mase, a six foot pole with a big ball on the top, and as she was bringing it up she hit herself in the face and knocked herself out...
That is how special my mother is, but apparently 'the apple doesn't fall far', or so my sister says. This is a picture of me today from an incident that happened two days ago....


Wow... Don't I look LOVELY?!?! I swear I don't normally look like this... Really... And I am NOT as bad as my mom, and I can prove it! My mother had her pole still in her hand, I had no control over mine... Mine was in the air... as if that makes it any better... but I'm trying okay? I am now a part of Winter Guard. For those of you who have seen a marching band... you know those girls that do all the dancing and run around tossing flags and swords and rifles? Ya, that is what I'm doing now... EXCEPT! I am not a Colorguard Member which is what those are called. Winter Guard(W.G.) is during the winter season and actually falls into spring a bit, but instead of doing all the dancing and tossing outside, it is inside to music. Well this year at my high school we have so many members wanting to do W.G. that we have to have two teams. Scholastic and Advanced.
Scholastic is a higher level then the advanced and therefore there has to be very good members on it. People who can move, who can dance. People who pick up on things very quickly, and know how to give their all to preform. Well they also need something else... They need to know how to spin, toss, and catch a flag with a six foot pole in length... and NOT hit themselves... but the funny thing is... I'm on the scholastic team...
I've never touched a flag other then messing around and trying to learn a few things out of curiosity, and also the saber that is required to know if you want to be on the scholastic team. Well, I have hit myself before but those were just minor things... not like this.

There is a move that you do with a flag, it's a toss. You start out with half of the flag behind your back and use the momentum to thrust it forwards and up, letting it spin in the air above your head like a helicopter wing, horizontally. Then catch it a tiny bit above and in front of you. Well... It was cold outside and my hands were pretty much frozen when I went to catch my left handed toss. My fingers didn't have time to wrap around the pole as it came down towards my head. The first hit was the top left side of my forehead but luckily that one only left a small barely noticeable bruise hidden by my hair... The next one would not go unnoticed... as if that isn't obvious. It was the same hit, but it happened to slide down my face and hit my eye and cheek bone... well I guess you can see that. The point is that I'm not completely held responsible... well, I am, but it's not as bad as my mom! Mine wasn't in my hand... and when I do that same toss on the right side I do it perfectly! I'm just not gifted on my left side... oh well... hehe there is an interesting story for you.